Diet discovery: Eating food with a high water content, like soup, can help you feel fuller for longer
It gives a whole new, and rather more healthy meaning to the liquid lunch.
Eating food with a high water content could be the key to losing weight.
Nutritionists believe that dishes such as rice, pasta, soups and stews, appear to keep you feeling fuller for longer. But the liquid must be part of the food.
Drinking a glass of water while you eat will not have the same effect, said the British Nutrition Foundation.
The theory is based on studies which showed that although somebody will eat different foods on different days, the weight of food consumed will hardly vary.
This means that if we eat foods that are just as bulky but contain fewer calories, we should feel just as full.
Water-rich foods tend to be low in calories or have a low energy density, a BNF conference heard.
A spokesman said: 'Studies have shown that people tend to consume the same weight of food each day but not necessarily the same amount of energy or calories.
'So it is possible to trick ourselves into consuming less energy, without feeling hungrier, by eating a lower energy density diet which still makes up the same weight of foods overall throughout the day.'
To work out the energy density of a food, divide the number of calories by its weight.
So a 40g bag of crisps with 200 calories has an energy density of five – putting it towards the high end of the scale.
At the other end of the scale are most fruits and vegetables, as well as vegetable soups, low-fat yoghurt, baked beans, baked potatoes and cornflakes.
Many of these are high in water and all have an energy density of 1.5 or less, making them good to fill up on.
Foods with a medium rating include strawberries and cream, lasagne, steak, pizza and chips.
Joining crisps at the high end of the scale, with ratings of four or more, are cheese, chocolate, mayonnaise and butter.
Chocolate-lovers, however, can take some heart. The lightness of chocolate mousse means it has a lower rating – and so is more filling – than squares of chocolate.
Weight for weight, a low-calorie mousse has around a quarter of the calorie count as the solid variety, but, according to the BNF, should be just as filling.
Dr Elisabeth Weichselbaum, a nutrition scientist at the foundation, advised including 'more foods with a low energy density, moderate amounts of foods with a medium energy density and small amounts with a high density'.
She added: 'For instance, if you make spaghetti bolognese and make the sauce with mincemeat it might be a bit high in fat.
'If you put a lot of veg in the sauce, you will probably eat the same amount of sauce but a lot fewer calories.'
The idea that certain foods make you feel more full than others is the basis of several popular diets.
The Atkins Diet, for example, works on the principle that protein satisfies hunger quicker than carbohydrates.
So dieters who fill up on steak and eggs lose more weight – and keep it off for longer – than those who tuck into similar quantities of pizza and potatoes.
The British Dietetic Association said it was a good idea to eat lots of fruit and vegetables but that meat, fish and starchy foods should also have a place on our dinner plates.
飲食發現:吃高水分含量的食物,如湯,可以幫助您很長時間覺的很飽。
它給我們一個全新的觀念,流質食物在一定程度上說更健康。
吃高水分含量的食物是減肥的關鍵。
營養學家認為如米飯,面食,湯和燉肉這樣的食物,讓您很長時間覺的很飽。不過水分必須來自于食物。
英國營養基金會說,當你吃飯時喝了一杯水不會產生同樣的感受。
該理論是基于研究報告顯示,盡管有些人不同天吃不同的食物,但消耗的食物重量很難有所不同。
這意味著,如果我們吃的食物一樣多,但含更少的熱量,我們仍會有飽的感覺。
一次英國營養基金會會議上說,水含量豐富的食物往往是低熱量或低能量密度。
一位發言人說:"研究顯示,人們往往每一天消耗同等重量的食物,但不一定消耗相同數量的能量或熱量。
全天吃同等重量的低能量密度食物。 這個方法讓我們消耗低能量食物,而不感到饑餓。
制定出食物的能量密度,劃分出食物重量的卡路里數值。
因此, 40克一袋的薯片含200卡路里,能量密度為5 ,處于膳食表的最高端。
膳食表最低端有很多水果和蔬菜,如蔬菜湯,低脂酸奶,烤豆,烤土豆和玉米片。
它們許多水分含量很高,能量密度1.5或更低,能很快讓人有飽的感覺。
卡路里值適中的食物有草莓,奶油,烤寬面條,牛排,披薩和炸馬鈴薯條
膳食表里和薯片一樣高卡路里的食物有4種或更多,有奶酪,巧克力,蛋黃醬和黃油。
清淡巧克力奶油凍意味著它有較低的卡路里,與巧克力塊相比有更多的餡。不管怎樣對巧克力愛好者來說這是一個好消息。
根據英國營養基金會說法,餡雖有點多,但低熱量奶油凍實心品種只有原來大約四分之一的熱量。
基金會營養科學家Elisabeth Weichselbaum博士建議涵蓋更多低能量密度食物,中等數量的中等能量密度食物和少量的高能量密度食物。
她說: "例如,如果您吃意大利波拉奶茲空心粉加上醬肉汁,可能脂肪就有點高了。 "
如果你在醬汁中放入了大量的蔬菜,您可能會吃同樣數量的醬汁,但少了很多熱量。
某些食物比一些基礎大眾食物能讓你覺得更飽。
阿特金斯飲食法,例如引用了蛋白質比碳水化合物能更快讓人感到飽的原理。
因此減肥者吃牛排和雞蛋比那些吃類似數量的比薩餅和土豆的減肥者,能減輕更多的體重,并能保持了較長時間。
英國飲食協會說,大量食用水果和蔬菜這是一個好主意,不過肉類,魚類和淀粉類食物也應在我們的餐桌上占一席之地。